Post by derek on Aug 19, 2013 15:13:55 GMT
Saying Plenty About 20
16th August 2013
A local road safety campaigner has accused two “weekend motorcyclists” of exceeding 70mph in a County Down seaside village.
The accusation, apart from being reported in a local newspaper, The Newtownards Chronicle & the Co. Down Observer, was also related to Right To Ride in a conversation with the local road safety campaigner, Portavogie resident Gordon Finlay.
Mr Finlay is campaigning for 20mph for the Ards Peninsula to have a 20mph default speed limit where people live without traffic calming.
The campaign, ‘20s Plenty for us’, is active in other parts of Northern Ireland and is part of a UK wide campaign. According to the Newtownards Chronicle, it was the experience of weekend motorcyclists that spurred Mr Finlay to join the ‘20s Plenty for us’ campaign.
In our own conversations Mr Finlay commented, as a committee member of the CPLC (Community Police Liaison Committee), that the committee hears of reports of motorcycles speeding in many villages in the Peninsula, mainly on a Saturday & Sunday, which has been confirmed as a problem by the Neighbourhood Policing Team.
Mr Finlay has been using the police’s Speed Indicator Detector and apparently the demand for the speed indicator detector has increased considerably from members of the CPLC.
We are aware of “boy racers” in cars trying to record the highest speeds on these devices for recording on their mates’ mobile phones! It may have been the case in this instance in Portavogie that the actual Speed Indicator Device was what spurred these motorcyclists to reach such an inappropriate speed?
The outcome of these conversations and communications is that Right To Ride should be attending a meeting of the CPLC to listen to the members concerns to, “hear what residents of other villages have to put up with” however we do find it somewhat bizarre that motorcyclists are speeding throughout the Peninsula villages at such high speeds.
Our own experience of living on the Ards Peninsula is that majority of motorcyclists do not speed or ride any way inappropriately when traveling through villages.
In our opinion, there is a minority of riders who due to their actions may be perceived as the majority. These riders’ actions are what are remembered by the public, residents and other users of our roads, the majority of motorcyclists are not and should not be identified as “the problem”.
Challenge
You may ask why we are challenging Mr Finlay and his campaign as he singles out two alleged instances of speeding motorcycles with no mention of any other mode of vehicle.
What we do see with this drive behind the ‘20s Plenty for us’ campaign which appears to be led locally by Mr Finlay, is that passion for safer roads which is a good thing, is overcome by populist emotion that blackmails peoples senses and loses all sense of reason.
Ironically, Mr Finlay’s campaign follows on from SDLP MLA Conall Mc Devitt who introduced in June this year a private members bill to the Northern Ireland Assembly, which would introduce legislation that, “it shall not be lawful for any person to drive a motor vehicle on a residential road at a speed exceeding 20 miles per hour.”
Re-Inventing the Wheel
Meanwhile making all this seem superfluous is the fact that Northern Ireland already has 20mph zones in place and a dedicated plan to introduce where they are actually needed along with other plans of action and continued work. So what this suggests is that both Mr Finlay and Mr McDevitt are re-inventing the wheel.
This is set out in the DOE (Department of the Environment) Northern Ireland’s Road Safety Strategy To 2020 Vision: Driving Road Safety Forward, a document that was produced after consultation with the whole of the community in Northern Ireland and published in 2011.
We do not say this often, but those who are in charge of legislating, seem to be doing a good job without the added distraction of well-meaning interfering ‘Do-gooders’.
They have listened and reacted in a positive manner from all those who have involved themselves in Road Safety issues and all those who responded to the DOE Consultation on road safety.
Where does that leave Motorcyclists?
In reference to the introduction of 20mph limits, we have supplied the information we have at hand and given our own opinion, but other motorcyclists may have differing opinions.
Whether the speed limit is 20mph or 30mph, then there is nothing much you can do other than stick to these speed limits especially through villages..
As for the accusations of speeding motorcycles, we are dealing with those concerns.
However it is common sense that when riding through villages you must respect the speed limits.
The roads outside of villages are sufficient enough for the thrill and freedom that your bike and your abilities can enjoy. So enjoy the routes, the craic, the scenery and all those things that only you on your bike can appreciate.
Just take care out there and please, please, please, don’t rev the nuts off your bike to the rev limiter and make it back fire. It is not big, it is not clever and what riders really think under their helmet is “look at that tool!”
Watch this space for Motorcycle Villages NI.
Read the full article on Right To Ride - www.righttoride.co.uk/2013/08/16/saying-plenty-about-20/
Trevor Baird
16th August 2013
A local road safety campaigner has accused two “weekend motorcyclists” of exceeding 70mph in a County Down seaside village.
The accusation, apart from being reported in a local newspaper, The Newtownards Chronicle & the Co. Down Observer, was also related to Right To Ride in a conversation with the local road safety campaigner, Portavogie resident Gordon Finlay.
Mr Finlay is campaigning for 20mph for the Ards Peninsula to have a 20mph default speed limit where people live without traffic calming.
The campaign, ‘20s Plenty for us’, is active in other parts of Northern Ireland and is part of a UK wide campaign. According to the Newtownards Chronicle, it was the experience of weekend motorcyclists that spurred Mr Finlay to join the ‘20s Plenty for us’ campaign.
In our own conversations Mr Finlay commented, as a committee member of the CPLC (Community Police Liaison Committee), that the committee hears of reports of motorcycles speeding in many villages in the Peninsula, mainly on a Saturday & Sunday, which has been confirmed as a problem by the Neighbourhood Policing Team.
Mr Finlay has been using the police’s Speed Indicator Detector and apparently the demand for the speed indicator detector has increased considerably from members of the CPLC.
We are aware of “boy racers” in cars trying to record the highest speeds on these devices for recording on their mates’ mobile phones! It may have been the case in this instance in Portavogie that the actual Speed Indicator Device was what spurred these motorcyclists to reach such an inappropriate speed?
The outcome of these conversations and communications is that Right To Ride should be attending a meeting of the CPLC to listen to the members concerns to, “hear what residents of other villages have to put up with” however we do find it somewhat bizarre that motorcyclists are speeding throughout the Peninsula villages at such high speeds.
Our own experience of living on the Ards Peninsula is that majority of motorcyclists do not speed or ride any way inappropriately when traveling through villages.
In our opinion, there is a minority of riders who due to their actions may be perceived as the majority. These riders’ actions are what are remembered by the public, residents and other users of our roads, the majority of motorcyclists are not and should not be identified as “the problem”.
Challenge
You may ask why we are challenging Mr Finlay and his campaign as he singles out two alleged instances of speeding motorcycles with no mention of any other mode of vehicle.
What we do see with this drive behind the ‘20s Plenty for us’ campaign which appears to be led locally by Mr Finlay, is that passion for safer roads which is a good thing, is overcome by populist emotion that blackmails peoples senses and loses all sense of reason.
Ironically, Mr Finlay’s campaign follows on from SDLP MLA Conall Mc Devitt who introduced in June this year a private members bill to the Northern Ireland Assembly, which would introduce legislation that, “it shall not be lawful for any person to drive a motor vehicle on a residential road at a speed exceeding 20 miles per hour.”
Re-Inventing the Wheel
Meanwhile making all this seem superfluous is the fact that Northern Ireland already has 20mph zones in place and a dedicated plan to introduce where they are actually needed along with other plans of action and continued work. So what this suggests is that both Mr Finlay and Mr McDevitt are re-inventing the wheel.
This is set out in the DOE (Department of the Environment) Northern Ireland’s Road Safety Strategy To 2020 Vision: Driving Road Safety Forward, a document that was produced after consultation with the whole of the community in Northern Ireland and published in 2011.
We do not say this often, but those who are in charge of legislating, seem to be doing a good job without the added distraction of well-meaning interfering ‘Do-gooders’.
They have listened and reacted in a positive manner from all those who have involved themselves in Road Safety issues and all those who responded to the DOE Consultation on road safety.
Where does that leave Motorcyclists?
In reference to the introduction of 20mph limits, we have supplied the information we have at hand and given our own opinion, but other motorcyclists may have differing opinions.
Whether the speed limit is 20mph or 30mph, then there is nothing much you can do other than stick to these speed limits especially through villages..
As for the accusations of speeding motorcycles, we are dealing with those concerns.
However it is common sense that when riding through villages you must respect the speed limits.
The roads outside of villages are sufficient enough for the thrill and freedom that your bike and your abilities can enjoy. So enjoy the routes, the craic, the scenery and all those things that only you on your bike can appreciate.
Just take care out there and please, please, please, don’t rev the nuts off your bike to the rev limiter and make it back fire. It is not big, it is not clever and what riders really think under their helmet is “look at that tool!”
Watch this space for Motorcycle Villages NI.
Read the full article on Right To Ride - www.righttoride.co.uk/2013/08/16/saying-plenty-about-20/
Trevor Baird